The Alpha's Temptation

"Elty," Tania rasped. "You are hurting me." She too was feeling lusty, but she would shake her head every now and then to come out of the haze.

"Tania!" he growled and stopped his horse. "I want to--" His breathing became heavy. "I want to fuck you hard!"

"If you do that, I am afraid then you won't be able to come out of the trance," she warned him.

His wolf growled inside him, wanting to be free and be with his mate. "Then--" All of a sudden, he dismounted his horse, growling and howling. He shifted. With his bare fangs he looked at a shocked Tania. Wind, his horse, was used to his master and so he didn't run away. It stood like a rock next to his master.

Tania knew what to do when Eltanin looked at him with his winter blue eyes. She dismounted the horse. She walked to his wolf who let out a low purr. She raked her fingers in his soft fur from his head to neck chanting a spell, taking her chances. Anastasia had said that their abilities were reduced in Sgiáth Bio. But she continued to rub Eltanin's wolf with her fingers. Air charged weakly and coated him with her magic. She said, "I am going to climb you and you are going to run me through the valley. I will try to keep your desire in control by using whatever magic I have."

The wolf let out a purr of approval. His breath clouded in the air. Tania climbed him. She stroked him near the ears, over his neck, digging her fingers deep in his fur. She leaned over to his ear and said, "I know you can do it, love."

With her stroking him gently and caressing him, he felt calmer. He purred again and twitched his ears. That was an indication for Tania to hold onto his ears. As soon as she did that, Eltanin took off. Wind ran right beside his master as if to protect him. As they sped through the wildflower valley, everything went past in a blur. As the moon rose in the sky and stars dazzled, the scent of the flowers increased. Some of them bloomed at night. The chilly wind around them kept the pollen wafting in the air.

This part of Sgiáth Bio was so cold that Tania actually thanked Eltanin for shifting in his wolf and running across the valley. His wolf kept her warm as she hugged him tightly. She guided him across the valley through her natural instincts.

Biham was riding right beside Rolfe. Rolfe had warned him about the passion flowers and he was trying his best to breathe only through the muffler that was wrapped across his face. At the same time, Rolfe had used his magic to shield him with a thin film of halo-like lights so that he wasn't affected by the pollen. Throughout his ride across the valley, Biham couldn't think of anything else but Kinshra. He prayed to the deities in silence that Eltanin and Lusitania were doing fine. Their concern was eating him up on the inside.

Dawn crept across Sgiáth Bio's sky in beautiful splashes of pink, violet and red. With each passing minute, Tania could see that the flowers were becoming scarce. Tired as hell by running for the entire night and fighting his emotions, Eltanin slowed his pace. Tania stared at the valley and said, "I think we have come to the end of the valley, Elty." She saw the ground covered with snow.

Eltanin was panting. His tongue had lolled out and he needed to rest as soon as possible. And so did Tania. She pointed to a cave in the distance. "Let us go there." The cave was across a small frozen lake nestled inside a pine covered hill.

'Have we still crossed the valley of flowers?' Eltanin asked her through his mind link.

She looked back and realized that they had mostly covered it. The frozen lake perhaps marked its boundary. "Let us cross to the cave, Eltanin," she goaded him. "Do you want me to get down?"

'Hell no!' he shouted through their mind link. And suddenly he realized that they could speak so well through their mind link. The channel through which they could communicate was... crisp. 'Stay on my back.'

Tania chuckled and caressed his fur. Eltanin started to walk carefully over the lake and as they walked, Tania could see the weeds and tall planktons frozen inside the lake, it was as if the time had stopped for them. She would catch the sight of red and blue shimmery streaks of lights inside that weaved their way across the water plants. The moment she would see them, she would feel attracted to them. And the attraction was heavy. The lights would sometimes pulsate as if they lived. Tania gulped. It was impossible for her to draw her gaze away from them. She wanted to call the lights. Or were they calling her? All at once, Wind nudged her on the side and whinnied. She snapped her gaze to look at him.

"Wind!" she said, startled by his gentle nuzzling. She didn't know why but she thought that Wind was trying to distract her from looking inside the cage. But why? She knew that Wind was a gift to Eltanin from Taiyi. Eltanin had said something about him being a water horse, but she didn't remember. "I am fine," she chuckled when Wind grabbed her braid in his teeth and tugged it lightly. "Wiiinnnd!" she whined. Eltanin growled at his horse, chiding him lightly. However, for the entire length of the lake, as Eltanin trudged through it, Wind made sure that Tania didn't look beneath the surface of the frozen lake.

They crossed the valley and the lake successfully.

They entered through the narrow entrance that opened into a wide curling cave. The cave was shrouded in moss. A small stream of fresh water ran somewhere inside. Tania felt this strong urge to go and check it, but she resisted. She got down from her wolf. Wind continued to stand as a guard on the outside.

As soon as they entered the cave, Eltanin shifted. He was so tired that he sagged on the ground, his shoulders caving it. He naked body was covered with sweat. "Elty!" she rasped as panic bubbled in her chest. "You need rest!"

He looked at her with his eyes that were red because of tiredness. His hair clung to his face in clumps. "I want water..." He seemed delirious.

"Yes!" she nodded as she cupped his cheeks. "Stay here. I will get some right now."

Eltanin dragged himself to the side of the cave and sagged against a wall. Tania removed her cloak and covered him with it. Then she rushed to Wind. She took out his clothes and a clean cloth from the saddlebag and then darted to the sound of a stream that she had heard with their water canteen.

Even though the cage was large, her natural instincts guided her to the stream of water inside the cavern. As soon as she reached it, she saw the same shimmery red and blue and violet lights, resting on its surface. She halted near the bank and the lights pulsated.